1. Wolf said when he got home last night one of the chickens wasn’t walking well last night. When she did walk it was as if one of her legs was broken, and stepped on her own wings to walk. Overall, she wasn’t moving well at all.

She did make it into the coop on her own and seems to be doing ok today. Any ideas?

2. There a clutch of eggs, maybe about 6, which no one seems to be sitting on. I haven’t collected the eggs because my thought is to leave them there to induce the chicken(s) to get broody. Wolf wants to collect them because he has this belief they can’t be on the ground for a long period of time and already the first eggs have been there a few days. The clutch is getting bigger every day.

Like this:

Related

One Response to Chicken Questions

1. If she is doing well today, don’t worry too much. Splayleg is the most common reason for leg problems in fowl – check to make sure she isn’t bow legged; although your hens are pretty much at a point that there isn’t much you can do if she is.

2. If the hens don’t set, you really do not want keep the eggs more than 5 days, after that they become weak and the chances of them hatching decreases significantly. Unfortunately, broodiness is a trait that has been culled out of a lot of breeds. If your breed is naturally broody, they usually need a minimum of 14 hours of sunlight a day, as well as warm temperatures. They might just think it is too cool still to raise chicks!